Category: Business

“In the wake of the shooting of 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, the National Rifle Association [NRA] quickly began combating calls for stricter gun laws by working to convince Americans that gun control measures would have supposedly disastrous effects.” Remove the word “supposedly” from that sentence and I’m good with Kira Lerner’s lead to her thinkprogress.com story NRA’s Revenue Has Skyrocketed Since The Sandy Hook Massacre. I’m also good with the additional revenue: a $100 million jump in annual income. Given that it’s all voluntary contributions, what’s Lerner’s beef? I bet you can guess. First, her summary of the org’s IRS Form 990 . . .

This morning, TrackingPoint released a short presser trumpeting the appointment of a new CEO. The company had been headed by Jason Schauble, former Remington Defense employee who now is the man in charge at SilencerCo, but that relationship abruptly evaporated in the weeks leading up to SHOT Show last year. Now, with a new man in charge, TrackingPoint is trumpeting its company growth — but also hinting at some possible issues behind the scenes.

FedEx is a common carrier. They ship just about everything from prescription medications to firearms and silencers. In fact, I’ve used them before to send guns across state lines, and all they wanted to know was whether the gun was unloaded — no further questions asked. But when Cody Wilson of Defense Distributed fame wanted to use FedEx to ship his cheap his CNC machines, they refused. Why? Because — gasp! — they might be used to make guns . . .

I was passing by today and randomly stopped in to look at the pistol selection at Dunham’s Sporting Goods in Shelby, NC. Every handgun in the case has a trigger lock on it. Cool. Theft deterrent. OK. I ask to see a pistol from the case and I am informed that per store policy, I must have a valid ID and a Pistol Purchase Permit (oh the joys of NC’s antiquated system) or a Concealed Handgun Permit to even hold it. I have never heard of such foolishness, but we establish that I meet the requirements and he removes the gun from the case . . .

I recently found myself shopping for some new homeowners insurance. As I have quite a few personal firearms, I asked the agent about the limitations of the policy she wanted to sell me. The agent checked the dec sheet and she asked me if I had a collectors license. I said no. The ensuing conversation got interesting in a hurry . . .

Interesting news from the last frontier. The heart of the matter being adjudicated in a wrongful death suit is whether an illegal sale occurred by Juneau gun dealer Rayco Sales and whether or not civil liability exists. This is a complicated matter that I’m watching closely. The ATF has begun proceedings to revoke 82-year-old Ray Coxe’s federal firearms license. He’s operated Rayco Sales for 45 years. As of this writing he was slated to terminate all legal firearm sales last week . . .

It seems the branding death march continues at Freedom Group, as more and more of the smaller brands under the Remington umbrella are killed off and merged with Big Green proper. The latest casualty is Para USA, a 1911 handgun manufacturer known for competition handguns and good quality products. In a press release this morning, Remington announced that Para USA will no longer exist as a separate brand, and their products will be sold under the amalgamated Remington branding instead. Make the jump for the presser . . .

“The federal judge considering a proposed class-action settlement involving millions of allegedly defective Remington rifles is raising new questions about the accord, warning a plaintiff’s attorney in court that the agreement as it currently stands risks more people being injured by the guns,” cnbc.com reports. U.S. District Judge Ortrie Smith’s main beef with the not-a-recall recall? The Freedom Group subsidiary will send vouchers for $10 or $12.50 (for Remington clobber) to consumers with Remington rifles that are too old to be retrofitted with the XMark Pro trigger. “If the guns are defective,” the judge asked, “why are they still out there?” In other words . . .

As washingtontimes.com is reporting, the United States Concealed Carry Association made an attempt to place the above ad in this year’s Super Bowl program. You would be forgiven for thinking that this was just another brilliant bit of Daniel Defense-style guerrilla marketing, angling for an inevitable rejection and running with it from there. Cynic that I am, that’s what I suspected. But when I reached out to USCCA editor Kevin Michalowski to get the story from the horse’s mouth, here’s what he told me . . .

The forces arrayed against our civil rights are starting to recognize that a single, all-encompassing legal win against the right to keep and bear arms in Congress or the judiciary is just not in the cards for now. So they push in areas where they believe the terrain is favorable for a win — places such as the media and academia. This strategy was explained in a December 2013 article in the old New Republic, which breathlessly mentioned gun banners in the same (virtual) breath as people who protested Apartheid-era South Africa, the tobacco industry, and the fossil fuel industry. They showed surprising restraint in leaving out human chattel slavery, though that may be because those who fight against slavery have often found it advisable to keep firearms and other weapons handy . . .

Mike Smith is the Freedom Group employee who kicked me out of the Remington booth at SHOT Show. According to reliable sources, he also has a picture of me over his desk with the words “you’re fired” Photoshopped in. When the news about my unceremonious eviction from the SHOT Show booth hit the ‘net, Mike saw it as an opportunity to vent. He turned to AAC’s official blog and told the world how he really feels. Click here to read the The Truth About AAC on AAC’s blog. Or click here for the PDF mirror. Here are a couple choice excerpts below . . .Read More